Method of producing piezoelectric crystal devices



June 5, 1962 J. M. WOLFSKILL METHOD OF PRODUCING PIEZOELECTRIC CRYSTAL DEVICES Original Filed Nov. 26, 1956 INVENT OR.

JOHN M WOLFSK/LL o l/A? A r TORNE) United States Patent Ofiice:

3,937,263 Patented June 5, 1962 1 3,037,263 METHOD OF PRODUCING PIEZOELECTRIC CRYSTAL DEVICES John M. Wolfskill, Erie, Pa., assignor to Bliley Electric Company, Erie, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Original application Nov. 26, 1956, Ser. No. 624,327,

now Patent No. 3,017,525, dated Jan. 16, 1962. Di-

vided and this application Oct. 7, 1957, Ser. No.

9 Claims. (Cl. 2925.35)

This invention relates to a method of producing piezoelectric crystal devices, particularly low frequency piezoelectric quartz crystal devices such that their activity and frequency vs. temperature characteristics are practically independent of the mounting means.

This application is a division of my application Serial No. 624,327, filed November 26, 1956, now Patent No. 3,017,525, issued January 16, 1962.

It is an object of this invention to provide a method for producing low frequency piezoelectric crystals so that the crystals are free from activity variations over a wide temperature range and also have greatly improved frequency vs. temperature characteristics.

' It is another object of this invention to provide a method for mounting piezoelectric crystals which results in improved activity of the piezoelectric crystals.

It is still another object of this invention to provide a method for mounting piezoelectric crystals in which no solder is directly applied to surfaces or electrodes of the piezoelectric crystal for support thereof.

It is another object of this invention to provide a method for mounting piezoelectric crystals in which many of the operations of assembly are greatly simplified.

Another object of the invention is to provide a method for mounting piezoelectric crystals with the result that the effects of aging on the piezoelectric crystals with time or due to heat cycling is greatly minimized.

In the prior art practically all low frequency piezoelectric quartz crystals, including the well known X-Cut, CT, DT, GT, +42 bars as well as the MT, NT and similar cuts, in which contiguous electrodes are used, have practically all been mounted by means of soldering either a straight wire or a headed wire directly from the contiguous electrodes on the major faces, and usually perpendicular to them. These wires are attached to the electrodes at the crystal nodal points after application of a fired silver spot or evaporated silver electrodes to these major faces as pointed out above.

Many types of solder and their alloys have been used in these soldering operations and all of them have been found to affect adversely the frequency stability and activity of the crystal units.

It is well known in the art that solder loses a high percentage of its strength, particularly in tension a short time after the soldering operation is completed. It is also well known that temperature cycling or maintaining the crystal unit having such soldered connections, at elevated temperatures for relatively short periods of time, causes the crystals to age in frequency and activity very substantial amounts. Subjecting the crystals to such temperature conditions may affect many other of their characteristics, including the shape of the temperature characteristic curve, the peaking point with temperature of such curves, the activity of the crystals, their ability to withstand shock and vibration, etc.

Practically all of these elements are variable and will vary with time, even at room temperature, and at a greatly accelerated rate at elevated temperature because of the change in the crystalline structure of the solder or alloys used to mechanically fasten the support wires to the crystal electrode faces.

Prior to this invention all of these factors have been difii cul t' to control and considerable allowance had to be made for these effects in actual use of the crystal units so made. This invention alleviates all these problems by mounting the crystals in such a manner that nosolder or solder alloys are used directly on the contiguous crystal electrodes to attach any means of support.

Support of the crystal in this invention is accomplished by drilling a small hole through the crystal from one face to the other, at or near the nodal point. This hole must be drilled in such a manner as to avoid or eliminate the possibility of leading or incipient cracks around the periphery of said hole. Such a drilled hole can be produced by use of an abrasive tool in which abrasive particles are forced against the quartz crystal in a well defined pattern to produce a very small round, square or rectangular hole. The S. S. White Mfg. Company makes an equipment that ,is suitable for drilling such holes.

The hole is best made prior to the application of the contiguous electrodes to the crystal face although it can even be drilled or cut through the crystal after such electrodes are applied thereto. A small rod of either round, square, or rectangular cross section of insulating material and high strength is then passed through the hole with a sufiicient length extending on either side of the crystal faces for supporting the crystal in the crystal holder. Such small diameter mounting rods of high strength may be made out of a variety of material, such as, ceramics, sapphire, fused quartz, crystalline quartz, Teflon, spun glass fiber cord impregnated with cement or one of the epoxy type resins to provide rigidity, Bakelite or plastic materials having sufiicient strength.

'It has been found that sapphire rod is an excellent material to use in this application because of its hardness and strength and temperature characteristics. Also it has characteristics which are compatible with various glass frits which can be used for cementing it to the crystal. A number of cements can be used for the application. It has been found however that glass or glass frit applied around the rod in the hole through the quartz crystal can then be fired to about 560 C. so as 'to melt the glass or glass frit and produce a good bond between the sapphire and crystalline quartz. This method of joining the rod to the crystal is practically free of any deleterious effects due to temperature changes up as high as 400 C.

After the rod is positioned in the hole through the crystal, by means of the above described method, so the support rod is perpendicular to the crystal blank, the entire assembly is placed in a metal evaporating chamber and electrodes are evaporated onto the crystal. During this process the rods will also be coated with the metal plating, such as silver, gold or other evaporated metals, which then completes the connection of the electrodes to the rods. These rods are then attached to the main support wires of the crystal holders in any convenient way as by soldering, conductive cements or mechanical clips and the like.

Units so produced have shown greatly improved frequency-temperature characteristics especially in the higher temperature regions between C. and 200 C. In the prior art, crystals of this low frequency face shear type have never been known to operate satisfactorily much above 1:10 C. In the normal temperature range in which such crystals are used (-40 to plus 85 C.), it is well known that theyhave frequency-temperature characteristic curves, which are of parabolic shape; this is particularly true of the DT and CT type crystals. The shape of the curve is such that the frequency first rises with temperature, passes through an inflection point and then drops with temperature.

It has been discovered that this parabolic shape of CT and DT cut crystal blanks is completely different when mounted in accordance with this invention in that the curved does not drop off in frequency nearly as rapidly at the high temperature end. Such a drop off is caused by the mounting heretofor used in which solder connections were employed for supporting the crystal blank and this resulted in poor frequency-temperature characteristics particularly at higher operating temperatures. The frequency-temperature characteristics of crystals mounted in accordance with this invention are not materially affected by the supporting means of the crystal blank. Consequently, with this invention it is possible to materially improve the frequency-temperature stability characteristics of crystals over very wide temperature ranges.

Furthermore, the shock and vibration characteristics of a crystal unit mounted in accordance with this invention is also greatly improved and normal deterioration which took place in the conventional mounting employing soldered connections has been substantially eliminated.

Referring to the drawing briefly:

FIGURE 1 is a schematic view showing a small hole being cut through a quartz crystal;

FIGURE 2 shows the quartz crystal illustrated in FIG. 1 with a small rod positioned in the hole cut therethrough;

FIGURE 3 is a view showing the quartz crystal and rod assembly being heated to melt the glass frit used for cementing the rod into the hole in the quartz crystal;

FIGURE 4 is a view showing the quartz crystal and rod assembly supported in a metal evaporating chamber in which metal electrodes are supplied to the crystal and rod by evaporation;

FIGURE 5 is a view showing the crystal supported in a mounting whereby it may be connected into an electrical circuit; and

FIGURE 6 is a view showing a crystal supported in a chamber for the application of electrodes to the crystal which is supported in the chamber by the finished mountmg.

Referring to the drawing in detail there will now be described a practical example of a piezoelectric crystal device produced in accordance with this method.

The quartz crystal 10 shown in FIGURE 1 consists of a wafer cut from the natural or synthetic mother crystal in accordance with processes well known in the art. This crystal blank or Wafer is cut to certain dimensions, depending upon the frequency at which it is desired to operate the finished crystal. This blank 10 is supported in any convenient manner and a well-defined stream of abrasive 1 1 or other cutting medium is directed against the small area 12 through which a hole is to be cut. This hole may be cut through the crystal blank in any desired manner such as by using the above mentioned stream of abrasive or by use of a supersonic type of drill or by any other means as long as a clean and well-defined hole of small dimensions, approximately 0.015 inch in diameter, is produced through the crystal blank. Of course, the diameter of this hole will depend upon the size of the crystal blank that is to be supported and also upon the material used for supporting it; however, the above dimension is satisfactory for a crystal blank that is provided with major faces that are approximately one half inch square, and the thickness of which is approximately 0.015 inch.

In drilling or cutting the hole through the crystal blank consideration of prime importance resides in the fact that no incipient cracks or fractures may be produced around the edges of the hole formed in the crystal blank during the cutting of said hole. Furthermore, no strains or stresses which would result in cracks or flaws being produced in the crystal blank, should result from this operation.

After the desired hole is cut into the crystal blank 10, a small sapphire rod 14 that is approximately 0.010

inch in diameter is inserted into this hole and a small amount of glass frit is placed into the hole surrounding the sapphire rod 14. The crystal blank and rod are then supported upon a heated surface such as the surface 15 shown in FIGURE 3. This surface may be provided with a hole 16 which is just big enough to receive the portion of the rod 14 projecting from one side of the crystal blank 10. The hole 16 must also be formed in the surface 15 with sufiicient precision so that when the crystal blank 10 rests thereon the rod 14 will be disposed exactly at right angles to the major faces of the crystal blank. When the crystal blank and rod assembly are thus supported in a suitable jig the assembly is heated sufiiciently, that is, to about 550 C., to melt the glass frit and cement the rod 14 in the hole provided to the crystal blank 10.

Rods of various materials other than sapphire may be employed in accordance with this invention, for ex ample, the rod 14 may be made of ceramic materials, fused quartz, crystalline quartz, spun glass fiber cord impregnated with cement or with an epoxy type resin, Bakelite, Teflon (tetrafiuorethylene) or any other similar plastics may be used. It is, of course, obvious that if the materials such as Teflon and Bakelite are employed, then suitable cements other than glass frit must be employed for cementing rods thereof into the hole formed in the crystal blank and one of the epoxy type resins may be employed for this purpose, care being; taken to heat this arrangement in the curing of the resin within the proper temperature range to which the rod material and resin may be subjected. This temperature will, of course, be above the normal operating temperature range of the crystal blank. Glass or glass frit may be employed with the rods made of ceramic materials, fused quartz and crystalline quartz since these will stand 560 C. temperature at which the glass or glass frit is fused or fired.

After the crystal blank 10 and the rod 14 are assembled and cemented together, the crystal and rod assembly may be mounted upon the supports 24 and cemented thereto as shown in FIGURES 5 and 6, which supports are attached to the pins 22 that are provided to the base of the crystal blank housing. The crystal blank and rod so assembled may then be positioned in the chamber -17 as shown in FIGURE 6, for the applica tion of electrodes to the crystal blank and also for the application of conductive coatings to the exposed parts of the rod 14 whereby the crystal blank electrodes are connected to the supports 24. A metal evaporation ap paratus for applying electrodes to crystals is illustrated in US. Patent No. 2,595,037 issued on April 29, 1952?.

On the other hand the electrodes may be applied to the crystal blank prior to the assembly of the crystal blank and rod on the supports 24 of the final holder as shown in FIGURES 5 and 6. In other words, the crystal blank 10 and rod 14 assembly may be positioned in the evaporating chamber 17 as shown in FIGURE 4 where in electrodes are applied to the major faces of the crystal blank or to selected portions thereof and metallic coatings are also applied to the exposed portions of the rod 14 by evaporation of metal from the members 19. The process known as cathode sputtering may also be employed for applying the electrodes to the crystal blank 10 if desired. In that case a pair of electrodes which may be in the form of rings, one positioned on each side of the crystal blank shown in FIGURE 4, is employed to direct the sputtered gold or silver vapor onto exposed surfaces of the crystal blank 10. These exposed surfaws would, of course, comprise the central areas of the major faces of the crystal blank and also the exposed surfaces of the rod 14. In this case these ring-shaped electrodes are connected to the positive terminal of the source of high voltage current supply employed in the sputtering process and the negative terminal connected to the electrodes 19 from which the gold or silver metal is sputtered. These metal evaporation and cathode sputtering processes are known in the art and may be employed in both of the arrangements shown in FIGURES 4 and 6. Suitable masks also may be provided to the crystal blank to prevent metal from being evaporated upon surfaces of the crystal blank where it is not desired.

Sufficient metal must be placed upon the electrode area of the crystal blank and upon exposed portions of the rod 14 so that electrically conductive surfaces are provided thereto, such as will enable the crystal to function properly in the electric circuit in which it is to be employed.

Either before or after the metal coatings for the electrodes are provided to the crystal blank 10 and the rod "14 as described above, the unit is assembled into a holder such as shown in FIGURE 5 which comprises a base 20 that is provided with a groove 21 and a pair of plugin pins 22. The pins 22 are supported in the base 20 by suitable insulation sleeves 23 through which these pins extend so that the L-shaped members 24 may be attached to the tops of these pins 22 by soldering, spotwelding, silver soldering, brazing and the like. The spot welding, brazing or silver soldering methods are desirable where the crystal is to be operated at relatively high temperatures such as 400 C., for example. The free ends of the L-shaped members 24 extend upward alongside of the crystal blank and they are provided with notches 25 into which the free end portions of the metal coated rod 14 are cemented by using, for example, a low temperature fired silver bonding cement such as is employed for a similar purpose in US, Patent No. 2,481,806, issued on Sept. 13, 1949.

Other Ways of attaching the rod 14 to the supports 24 may be employed and these may include spring clips. In addition the members 24 may be made of wire and the clips made integral therewith if desired.

Where crystals of the longitudinal type cuts having more than one nodal point are mounted in accordance 'with this invention, it is of course desired to support the crystal at more than one point. In such cases two or more rods may be provided for supporting the crystal at two or more nodal points.

While I have shown a preferred embodiment of the invention it will be understood that the invention shown so that its scope should be limited only by the scope of the claims appended hereto.

I claim:

1. The method of producing piezoelectric crystal devices that are adapted to be used at relatively high operating temperatures in the range 85 C. to 200 C. or higher without adversely affecting the piezoelectric activity and frequency characteristics thereof, comprising the steps of cutting a piezoelectric crystal blank having a pair of major faces, cutting a hole through the crystal blank substantially at a nodal point thereof, positioning a support of insulating material into said hole, applying a fusible material between said crystal blank and said support, fusing said fusible material to said crystal blank and to said support, said fusing being carried out at temperatures above the operating temperatures of said crystal, and applying electrodes to areas of said major faces and electrically conductive coatings to the external surfaces of the support for connecting the crystal to an electrical circuit.

2. The method of producing piezoelectric crystal apparatus as set forth in claim 1, further characterized in that the step of forming the hole in said crystal blank comprises cutting said hole by directing a stream of abrasive against the nodal point of said crystal, accurately confining said stream of abrasive so that a clean hole is formed, so that the side walls of said hole are free of incipient cracks.

3. The method of producing piezoelectric crystal devices that are adapted to be used at relatively high operating temperatures in the range C. to 200 C. or higher without adversely affecting the piezoelectric activity and frequency characteristics thereof, comprising the steps of producing a piezoelectric crystal blank having a pair of major faces, bonding said crystal blank substantially at a nodal point thereof to a support of insulating material by fusing said crystal blank to said support with fusible insulating material at a temperature above the operating temperature of the crystal blank, and applying electrodes to areas of said major faces and electrically conductive coatings to the external surfaces of the support for connecting the crystal to an-electrical circuit.

4. The method of producing piezoelectric crystal devices that are adapted to be used at relatively high operating temperatures in the range 85 C. to 200 C. or higher without adversely affecting the piezoelectric activity and frequency characteristics thereof, comprising the steps of cutting a piezoelectric crystal blank, forming a hole through said crystal blank substantially at a nodal point thereof, positioning an insulating rod of sapphire in the hole, supporting said blank on the rod, bonding said sapphire rod to said crystal at a temperature above the operating temperature of the crystal blank, applying electrodes to faces of the crystal blank around said rod and at the same time coating the exposed parts of the rod to form connections to the electrodes.

5. The method of producing piezoelectric crystal devices that are adapted to be used at relatively high operating temperatures in the range 85 C. to 200 C. or higher without adversely affecting the piezoelectric activity and frequency characteristics thereof, comprising the steps of cutting a piezoelectric crystal blank having a pair of major faces, cutting a hole through the crystal blank substantially at a nodal point thereof, fixing a support of sapphire into said hole, applying a fusible material to said sapphire support around said hole, fusing said fusible material to bond said support to said crystal at a temperature above the operating temperature of the crystal blank, and applying electrodes to areas of said major faces and electrically conductive coatings to the external surfaces of the support for connecting the crystal to an electrical circuit.

6. The method of producing piezoelectric crystal devices that are adapted to be used at relatively high op erating temperatures in the range 85 C. to 200 C. or higher without adversely affecting the piezoelectric activity and frequency characteristics thereof, comprising the steps of cutting a piezoelectric crystal blank, forming a hole through said crystal blank substantially at a nodal point thereof, positioning an insulating sapphire rod in the hole, holding said blank on said rod at right angles thereto, applying a fusible material to said sapphire rod around said hole, fusing said fusible material at a temperature above the operating temperature of the crystal to bond said rod to said crystal, applying electrodes to faces of the crystal blank around the hole and at the same time coating the exposed parts of the rod to form connections to the electrodes.

7. The method of mounting piezoelectric crystals so that the crystals may be used at relatively high temperatures in the range 85 C. to 200 C. or higher without adversely affecting the piezoelectric activity and frequency characteristics thereof, comprising the steps of cutting a piezoelectric crystal blank with a pair of major faces, forming a clean hole through said crystal blank substantially at the nodal point thereof without causing incipient cracks to form in the walls of said hole, providing a rod of insulating material adapted to withstand the relatively high operating temperature, inserting said rod into said hole, applying a fusible material to said rod and in said hole, said fusible material being infusible in the relatively high operating temperature of the crystal, fusing said fusible material and thereby bonding said rod to said crystal in said hole, and applying electrodes to said major faces around said hole and at the same time coating the exposed parts of said rod to form connections to the electrodes.

8. The method of mounting piezoelectric crystals so that the crystals may be used at relatively high tempera tures in the range 85 C to 200 C. or higher without adversely affecting the piezoelectric activity and frequency characteristics thereof, comprising the steps of cutting a piezoelectric crystal blank with a pair of major faces, forming a clean hole through said crystal blank substantially at the nodal point thereof without causing incipient cracks to form in the walls of said hole, providing a rod of insulating material adapted to withstand the relatively high operating temperature, inserting said rod into said hole, applying a fusible material to said rod and in said hole, fusing said fusible material at a temperature above the operating temperature of the piezoelectric crystal thereby bonding said rod to said crystal in said hole, and applying electrodes to said major faces around said hole and at the same time coating the exposed parts of said rod to form connections to the electrodes.

9. The method of mounting piezoelectric crystals so that the crystals may be used at relatively high temperatures in the range 85 C. to 200 C. or higher without adversely affecting the piezoelectric activity and frequency characteristics thereof, comprising the steps of cutting a piezoelectric crystal blank with a pair of major faces, forming a clean hole through said crystal blank substantially at the nodal point thereof without causing incipient cracks to form in the walls of said hole, providing a rod of insulating material adapted to withstand the relatively high operating temperature, inserting said rod into said hole, applying a bonding material to said rod and in said hole, bonding said rod to said crystal in said hole by setting the bonding material at a temperature above the operating temperature of the piezoelectric crystal, and applying electrodes to said major faces around said hole and at the same time coating the exposed parts of said rod to form connections to the electrodes.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Schneider Mar. 26, 1940 2,629,093 P-ask et al Feb. 17, 1953 

1. THE METHOD OF PRODUCING PIEZOELECTRIC CRYSTAL DEVICES THAT ARE ADAPTED TO BE USED AT RELATIVELY HIGH OPERATING TEMPERATURES IN THE RANGE 85*C. TO 200*C. OR HIGHER WITHOUT ADVERSELY AFFECTING THE PIEZOELECTRIC ACTIVITY AND FREQUENCY CHARACTERISTICS THEREOF, COMPRISING THE STEPS OF CUTTING A PIEZOELECTRIC CRYSTAL BLANK HAVING A PAIR OF MAJOR FACES, CUTTING A HOLE THROUGH THE CRYSTAL BLANK SUBSTANTIALLY AT A NODAL POINT THEREOF, POSITIONING A SUPPORT OF INSULATING MATERIAL INTO SAID HOLE, APPLYING A FUSIBLE MATERIAL BETWEEN SAID CRYSTAL BLANK AND SAID SUPPORT, FUSING SAID FUSIBLE MATERIAL TO SAID CRYSTAL BLANK AND TO SAID SUPPORT, SAID FUSING BEING CARRIED OUT AT TEMPERATURES ABOVE THE OPERATING TEMPERATURES OF SAID CRYSTAL, AND APPLYING ELECTRODES TO AREAS OF SAID MAJOR FACES AND ELECTRICALLY CONDUCTIVE COATINGS TO THE EXTERNAL SURFACES OF THE SUPPORT FOR CONNECTING THE CRYSTAL TO AN ELECTRICAL CIRCUIT. 